The use of a shoe tree, to stretch and preserve the integrity of a shoe is quite well known. Attempts have been made to incorporate the shoe tree with a shoe rack, particularly for display purposes. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,292,794 to Lowe issued Dec. 20, 1966, discloses a shoe rack having a base, a shoe tree mounting bar connected to the base and a plurality of shoe trees fixedly connected to the mounting member by the heel portions of each of the shoe trees. Each shoe tree is capable of retaining only one shoe. The mounting arrangement in Lowe is fairly complicated and primarily used for display purposes. As a result, the shoe trees cannot be removed quickly and easily. Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 2,317,516 to Brace, issued Apr. 27, 1943 shows a shoe-tree holder in which a pair of one-shoe retaining shoe trees are arranged in paired relationship on a support plate. Another example of a combination shoe tree and rack arrangement is provided in U.S. Pat. No. 2,262,459 to Hoppe, issued Nov. 11, 1941 which discloses a plurality of one-shoe retaining shoe trees, each riveted to a support bar and the support bar being mounted to a wall. U.S. Pat. No. 3,501,792 to Merriman, issued Mar. 24, 1970, teaches a wire shoe tree having an extended handle or hook portion by which the shoe tree may be hung or interconnected with other such shoe trees and then suspended above the floor.
In view of the prior art, a need still exists to provide a shoe tree capable of holding and preserving two (i.e. a pair of) shoes and which can be combined with an organizer for maintaining a plurality of shoe trees. Such a device should enable a user to quickly and easily attach each of a pair of shoes to the device and thereafter handle the pair as a single element. Further, such a device should be capable of mounting to an organizer in a simple manner and should facilitate the storage of a plurality of shoe trees on an organizer in a minimum amount of space. In addition, such a device should be of few parts and be inexpensive to manufacture.